Alaska, Hawaiian Airlines Make First Coordinated Capacity Change

Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are making their first coordinated capacity change following Alaska Air Group’s acquisition of Hawaiian.

With the two carriers now under the same ownership, they have the ability to coordinate route and capacity decisions. Based on what I’ve found in their schedules, Alaska and Hawaiian appear to be making the first notable modification to their networks following their combination:

• Starting April 22, Hawaiian Airlines will add a “permanent” 2nd daily Honolulu (HNL) to Seattle (SEA) flight

• Starting April 22, Alaska Airlines will decrease its Honolulu (HNL) to Seattle (SEA) route from 5x to 4x daily flights

• Starting June 12, Hawaiian Airlines will cancel its Kahului (OGG) to San Diego (SAN) route

• Starting June 12, Alaska Airlines will add a 2nd daily Kahului (OGG) to San Diego (SAN) flight

Overall, between the two airlines, each route will maintain the same number of daily flights, but Hawaiian will exit the OGG-SAN route completely. At the same time, Hawaiian will strengthen service to Seattle, Alaska Airlines’ largest hub, using an Airbus A330.

More Changes to Come

There will absolutely be more changes between the two carrier’s networks in the near future, influenced by their combination.

When Alaska first announced it would acquire Hawaiian, the carriers touted Hawaiian potentially cross-fleeting its widebodies onto new routes out of Alaska’s hubs. While purely speculative, Hawaiian’s new 2nd daily HNL-SEA flight has the aircraft sitting idle for over 9 hours:

• HA634 Depart HNL 9:15 PM Arrive SEA 6:15 AM (next day)

• HA633 Depart SEA 3:55 PM Arrive HNL 6:50 PM

Again, this may not indicate a new Hawaiian route from Seattle, but the decision to leave the A330 on the ground for so long during the day remains interesting.